Click here for Week 5.
The Caliente-Courious household is still where we last left it, in this large house with even larger (and nearly unmanageable) garden.
Lazlo lives here; he is 75 and has been on Permanent Platinum since he became Criminal Mastermind four days from Elderhood. His surname is not Curious anymore; he married...
...Dina Caliente, who is now 79 and also on Permanent Platinum. She became Chief of Staff six days from Elderhood.
Both Lazlo and Dina have lost the rest of their families last round: Dina's sister Nina died of starvation (near to a fully stocked fridge!), and Lazlo's brothers have died of old age. His niece Carolina Curious died way too young, though; she fell victim to the same lightning-induced fire that killed Lucy Burb, at the dorm where they both lived during their college years.
The Calientes start their week on Monday morning with a snowball fight (on their own accord). It was fun to watch!
Do you remember how Lazlo kept finding nothing more amusing than playing in the bath tub, in spite of having a computer, violin, TV, pool table and many other fun things in the house? He has not changed!
He seems to still be a child at heart (something I rather like!), as I catch him later when he was supposed to do some gardening, making a snow angel instead :-)
Dina prefers staying indoors after their early-morning snowball fight and gives financial consulting instead, true Fortune Sim style.
She is by far the neater of the two, and when I tell her to pull weeds, she does not only do that - she even disposes of some of the dead flower beds.
Tuesday morning, while it is still dark, the couple enjoy the comfort of the hot spring in their garden. Dina reminisces the time when their dog was still alive.
It is a work day for her today. Strange, isn't it, that so far no Sim in my game has ever showed the wish to retire? More than once, going to work has saved their lifes - they would have starved to death otherwise.
For a change, Lazlo does not play in the bath tub, but plays the violin that still sits in Carolina's old room.
Later, he greets Helena Stacks (daughter of Jane Stacks and Matthew Hart)...
...and Blossom Swain.
When Dina returns from work, she has some fun in the bath tub, too :-)
She interrupts her game when Graham Grunt walks by.
On Wednesday morning, Dina is sent out to do some gardening. They still have their professional gardener and maid to help with house and garden work, but the gardener never manages to get on top of things, and so I send Dina and Lazlo out anytime their needs are all green.
After all that hard work, she deserves a good long soak in the bath.
How rude to intrude on her like this! But Grimmy can't wait - she is on his list, and is given a suitcase to travel with him to the Otherworld. Dina was 82.
Poor Lazlo! He is 78, and now has not only lost his entire family, but also his beloved spouse.
It is now time to put my idea of opening a residence for single elderly Sims into action. Instead of going with my usual "only Maxis-made houses" policy for New Maximiliania, I have built my own:
You can see two residential bungalows on each side, each divided into four small flats. The central building contains community rooms such as kitchen and dining hall as well as a games room with a poker table, chess table, TV and book case. It is NOT an apartment lot, but simply a normal residential lot, with the doors to the individual flats locked for anyone but the Sim whose flat it is.
A close-up of one of the bungalows. The garden is, as you can tell, not yet fully landscaped and/or decorated; there is still enough room to plant vegetables and an orchard, for example, or to have a swimming pool built, set up a hot tub or create a barbeque area.
The generous kitchen/dining area is equipped with anything a Sim may want to make any meal, from a simple microwaved snack to an elaborate dinner.
The games and entertainment room. The door leads to a toilet that is not locked, because I am sure there will be plenty of visitors, and they won't be able to use the toilets in the resident's flats.
A comfortable settee faces a TV set (sorry, I forgot to place that before I took the picture), and an equally comfortable armchair is conveniently placed next to a book case.
On the other side of the kitchen/dining area, there is the exact mirror of the games/entertainment room, only that for now, it is still unfurnished. I am sure my Sims will decide in time what they want in there - maybe musical instruments or sports equipment.
The individual flats are really tiny and contain nothing more than a 4 x 4 bedroom, a 3 x 2 shower room with toilet and a small living/sitting room. Four in each building, i.e. 8 altogether, as this is the max number of Sims a household can have without using hacks or cheats. I have gone for the "country" look here, since the wallpaper and furniture from that collection comes in white or beige/caramel, green, pink and blue - allowing me to decorate and furnish each flat the same, just in a different colour scheme.
The above picture is the mint/green flat. It belongs to Sam Thomas, who has brought along the mementos of her busy life with Ty Bubbler and his businesses.
This is Lazlo's corner, with a photo of his late brother Vidcund and his hobby plaque.
Jennifer Burb brought the portraits of herself and her recently deceased husband John.
Here are the first three residents, meeting for the first time.
As you know, moving house always means the week at the new place starts on a Monday. Since Lazlo's week already was at the end of Wednesday at his former house, I am going to play this week at the Elderly Residence only until Thursday.
Sam is now 81, Lazlo 78 and Jennifer 71.
All three residents are on Permanent Platinum and can do what they like most of the time. For Jennifer, that means reading the paper on this Monday.
Lazlo and Sam prefer to play poker.
Every New Maximilianian walking by will be greeted, if possible. The first to arrive is Clover Newson.
Next is Fenya Hart.
After dark, Clover Newson sneaks out and adds soap powder to one of the fountsins in the front garden. Jennifer follows him, but instead of scolding him, she applauds his practical "joke".
Later, she decides to make Chef Salad for everyone.
Strangely enough, for her first meal at the new place, she chooses to sit far away from Lazlo and Clover, much to their amazement.
Lazlo goes to bed very tired that night. All week, he has not been sleeping properly, usually getting up way before he would have been fully rested. Moving here has not helped, I'm afraid.
On Tuesday morning, Sam wants to surprise her fellow residents and prepares Lobster Thermidor on her own accord.
Jennifer thinks that Sam's burnt Lobster tastes just like the last one her John made. Lazlo does not think anything, he is simply glad that someone provided a meal and it wasn't him.
Time and time again, I find Jennifer looking longingly at the portraits of herself and her hubby when they were young
After yet another short nap, Lazlo gets up again, feeling even worse than before.
That does not stop me from telling him to greet Callum Capp, though.
In the afternoon, Sam has retreated for a few hours to her bedroom.
She has just had enough time to use the toilet and have a shower after her nap, when she is offered her very last cocktail. Now she'll be reunited with her Ty in the Otherworld. She was 83.
It is Wednesday, and Jennifer takes it upon herself to do a spot of housework.
After she has finished cleaning the kitchen, she goes to her own flat and does some more cleaning there. The flat is so tiny, though, that it is difficult to take proper pictures - you know I don't like pictures with the walls down.
Here we go again... *sigh* As usual, someone has kicked over the trash can, and all Lazlo can think of doing is stomp fruitlessly on the bugs.
After the sun has risen (sort of - it is raining now), Calendula Capp comes by...
...and then Prezioso Picaso.
Jennifer is very happy to have a visit from her dear old friend Carla Reamon.
Perseida Powers was just on a jogging round in the neighbourhood when Lazlo greets her.
As before, visitors seem to be smarter in dealing with bugs than resident Sims. It is Perseida who puts the trash can upright again.
And it is Calendula who starts using bug repellant instead of stomping.
Deirdre Dreamer is happy to join the others at the Poker table as soon as she has been greeted.
Thursday, the last day of this week with Lazlo, begins with him having a lazy can of juice for breakfast.
Jennifer's social bar is very orange, and I expect the Social Bunny to appear any moment, but she prefers to stay in her room for most of the morning.
I have Lazlo do some gardening. Yes, I know, I should not control him to do that, but it seems a shame to let this brand new lot go to the dogs already.
Tina Traveller has been jogging past the garden, too, and is stopped by Lazlo, just like Perseida Powers yesterday.
She, too is cleverer than the two residents here.
This is how the week ends. Who are going to be the next residents at this home for Single Elderly Sims? What will the garden and community rooms look like eventually?
(Let me know if you'd like the house. I have packaged it before I moved anyone in.)
